


The Butterfly Effect

by ClarkeRipley



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Secret Relationship, secret dating au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-10 05:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13495580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClarkeRipley/pseuds/ClarkeRipley
Summary: When if something had forced Karolina to take of her bracelet earlier?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set around four weeks before the start of the series

People often talk about the Butterfly effect. How a butterfly flapping its wings in New Mexico could cause a hurricane in China, how the smallest of things of things could set in motion something huge. In case of Karolina Dean there was no butterfly flapping ins wings. Instead she got a far more unglamorous start to her story.

She was sunbathing at the pool of her house and as usual she was alone. She had been alone for years bow, being known as the weird religious girl at school didn’t make you a lot of friends and considering the kids at the Church treated her mother and to a lesser extent herself as some kind of holy royalty making friends over there was just as impossible. This wasn’t always the case though, she used to have a lot friends. Loyal friend she would have died for but it all changed two years ago. Her oldest and wisest friend Amy had committed suicide and this had shattered the entire group. None of them were the same afterwards and being together just felt wrong.

Chase who could always made them laugh was spending all his time with the popular crowd now. Cruel kids that she couldn’t stand to be around for more then five minutes. Gert had turned her anxiousness into a fury ,a fury often directed at Karolina herself. She never understood why but Gert had made it clear more then once that she disliked her deeply. Molly was the same lovely girl she always was but she inseparable from her sister. Alex had always been a bit introverted but Amy’s death had turned him practically into a hermit. He didn’t seem interested in being around anybody. And of course there was Nico……she had put on her make up and her new clothes as an armor to keep everyone away. Karolina wanted nothing more then to have Nico back in her life but her feelings for the girl were too complicated, too strong, too scary so…she did nothing. She had come to terms with the fact that she would go through high school by herself and her hope was that maybe things would be different in college. That she could go to some place where nobody would know her as the weird church girl, where she didn’t have to be perfect for her mom all the time

And while she was busy daydreaming about a future where she could be happy…that’s when it happened, something that would change her entire life forever. There was a loud screech as a sea gull flew over here and then…..then Karolina screeched herself

“Ewww” shouted Karolina as she felt the disgusting feeling of a sea gull taking a crap on you. It was all over her. Over her hair, her bathing suit, even her arms and oh god it smelled so bad. Karolina ran so fast to the bathroom that if the coach had seen her she would have put her on the track team in an instant. Immediately going to the shower she began scrubbing off the disgusting present from the sea gull. It took quite a while until she felt clean. Just as she finished inspecting every part of her body she noticed that a piece of the sea gull crap was stuck in the lock of her bracelet. For a second she thought about how bizarre it was that she couldn’t remember ever taking off her bracelet and then pulled it open with a swift motion

“What….” said an astonished Karolina out loud while staring at her hands. She was glowing. She actually glowing. As she waved her hands in the air to see the lights in motion she suddenly passed out hitting her head on the tiles 

She woke up hours later with an immense pain in her head. She struggled to get up as her body screamed in protest. She grabbed her head trying to lessen the pain and she blinked rapidly trying to clear her vision. Did she fall in the shower? She remembered some weird dream and……she finally opened her eyes fully and she saw that it wasn’t a dream. Her hand was glowing. She was freaking glowing. Scared she reached for her bracelet and quickly snapped it on again. The lights stopped immediately and she felt…less for some reason

Her entire body hurt almost as much as her head when she tried to get out of the bathroom. Being unconsciousness on the floor in an uncomfortable position for hours could really do a number on the human body. Add in the fact that her skin was pruned from laying under the shower for so long and Karolina Dean really didn’t feel her best right now.

She carefully put on her clothes as her stiff body protested and laid on her bed snuggling underneath her covers in a desperate attempt to find some comfort. She had a hard time breathing, she had a hard time thinking. Carefully she opened her bracelet again and closed it as soon as she saw the lights starting to emerge from her skin

“What is happening to me?’ she whispered to herself. She desperately wanted to go to her mother of father but she was too scared. Was she a freak?

It took her quite a bit of time to get over her shock and for her brain to actually regain a semblance of rational thought. Getting out of bed was like entering a wolf’s den but Karolina forced herself through every step until she made it to her desk. With shaking fingers she released the latch on her bracelet again and this time forced herself to stare at the lights .They felt…good, warm and inviting. For the first time in hours she actually smiled but this was quickly erased when she gazed at her bracelet. Snapping it back on the lights immediately disappeared. It was clear that there was a connection there. 

Her mother knew. It was a chilling realization that broke Karolina’s whole world. Her mother knew and she had kept it from her. It was a devastating realization. She had always trusted her mother and now she felt betrayed. Her whole life was a lie and there was nobody she could turn to

So she turned to place where all loners go: the internet.And it turned out that there was a huge amount of creatures that glowed on Earth:insects, fish, reptiles, microbes and so much more. But no humans, the closest a human came to glowing was a few cases of chemical poisoning and she would be in the hospital right now if this was the case. And that’s when she came across an article for transgenic animals. Using a modified virus to inject genes from fluorescent creatures into animals, this was accompanied by several videos of various glowing monkeys, pigs and other creatures. None of them glowed like a rainbow but Karolina still felt sick to her stomach. Had her mother experimented on her? Her mother was not a scientist but the Yorkes were and the Church had more then enough money to fund all sorts of crazy experiments

Would her mother do something like this to her? The answering came immediately and it was very depressing. She would without any hesitation. Her mother always put the Church first, in fact she pretty sure that at least half of the reason she had married her father was to raise the profile of the church. She would turn her child into a freak in an instant if it helped the Church

The next few days Karolina was in a daze. She had tried a small experiment with her mother. Told her how she felt that her bracelet was loose and she might have to change it and her mother’s extreme reaction confirmed everything she suspected .She felt trapped and she didn’t know what to do. She just desperately needed to talk to someone, to do something. 

What brought her out of her funk was the weirdest and most embarrassing thing and one that she would never admit to anybody. She was shopping in the mall trying to clear her head when she saw a t-shirt with the “Embrace the freak that you are” writing on it. A stupid t-shirt shouldn’t be the thing that inspired her but it did. She felt as if a weight was lifted of her chest. There was no point in denying it to herself anymore. She was a freak, a bigger freak then she ever thought so why not embrace it. Why keep hiding? Why keep denying her feelings? There was nothing she could about the fact that she could glow but there was something she could do about the feelings she was suppressing for years now

So with this new determination she decided that she wasn’t going to be afraid anymore, wasn’t going to live in fear. She was going to take her chance with Nico. This decision made her light up(albeit only figuratively) for the rest of the day. It had been quite a while since she didn’t have to fake a smile. 

She put on her prettiest dress the next morning and made sure that her make up emphasizes her blue eyes. She wanted to look her best for Nico. Her chances weren’t great, she was aware of this. The chances of Nico both being into girls and actually liking her were low but she didn’t let this bring her down. Compared to finding out that you were a human glow stick the prospect of romantic rejection wasn’t that horrible

Nico was alone, sitting next to the tree and reading her wicca books. As always Karolina was stunned and left slightly out of breath at the sight of Nico’s beauty. Her make up and clothes made her look like a dark goddess. Even with all the recent revelations she had gone through it was not easy to take the first few steps but once she did she felt the fake confidence turning into real one. For a second she was tempted to outright kiss Nico in a dramatic fashion but she was nowhere near brave enough to pull this off. She couldn’t imagine doing it outside of a life and death situation. 

“Hey Nico” said Karolina brightly

“Hey Karolina” answered Nico politely as she looked up from her book

“So…I was wondering if you are free tomorrow night” Karolina asked as she sat on the ground and got on the same eye level as Nico

“Sorry I am not really into Gibborum events” 

Karolina nearly groaned. Of course Nico would think that she was inviting her to some church event. Why couldn’t this be easier?

“No this is not about the church. I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me?” Karolina tried hard to keep up her confidence as she prayed hard to all deities that the girl would say yes

“Go out?” asked Nico raising her eyebrow in that cute way of hers

“On a date. A romantic date. Me and you” clarified Karolina in what she hoped was a smooth attractive way while holding her breath

She got her answer just a few seconds later and this was definitely the last thing she expected


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey Nico” The goth girl looked up and then she had to look even further up as the Amazonian figure of Karolina Dean appeared in her field of view

“Hey Karolina” answered Nico politely as she tried to hide just how uncomfortable she was at the situation. 

She always felt uncomfortable around her old friends. After her sister’s death she had pushed them all away. Seeing the pity in their eyes, seeing their own suffering at the loss of Amy…it hurt too much. She did not expect the group to break apart, she thought they would simply leave her alone until she was healed enough to join them again. To see all of them split apart….it made her feel guilty and nobody had made her feel guiltier then Karolina. 

Before everything fell apart they were inseparable. They had been best friends who shared everything and always had each other’s back. And after the destruction of the group nobody seemed to have it harder then Karolina. Everybody loved Molly. Chase and Gert have found their own niches in school. Alex had managed blend with the shadows and seemed content to be alone. Nico had shrouded herself in her make up and clothes like armor and her snark kept people away. But Karolina? She didn’t have a niche. Gib kids were either too poor to attend their school or so rich they studied overseas in fancy private schools. She couldn’t hide, not with being the millennial face of the Church with her picture plastered everywhere and certainly not with the way she looked. Like the ideal of American beauty, like a living goddess. And everybody seemed to hate her. All the boys she constantly turned down, all the girls who were envious of her (even Gert seemed to delight in bashing Karolina) for some insane reason the entire school had it out for Karolina

And worse of all Karolina’s only defense seemed to be her smile, even when people were bullying her, even when they made fun of her she always kept her smile and tried to be the better person. Nico recognized how fake those smiles were. She used to be her best friend and she knew every kind of smile Karolina had. The cute little smiles when she saw a puppy, the excited smile when someone prepared mac and cheese, the downright naughty smirk when someone played her Spice Girls…and so many more, but this fake smile that clearly hid the hurt? It always broke Nico’s heart to see it. 

She wanted so many times to reach out, to restore their friendship but she didn’t know how to. She wasn’t the same girl anymore and she didn’t know if she could ever be. The thought of trying to reconnect to her old friends just scared her too much. Too many bad possibilities, too many memories

“So…I was wondering if you’re free tomorrow night” Karolina asked nervously before she sat down next . Nico pitied the girl. She could guess why she was so nervous, she always acted like this when she had to do things for the Church

“Sorry I am not really into Gibborim events” said Nico as politely as possible. It’s not like she minded Karolina’s religion but a lot of the people who were part of it were kinda creepy. Especially the way they seem to semi worship the Deans

“No this isn’t about the church. I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me?” Karolina continued nervously

“Go out?” asked Nico hoping that she didn’t hear this right

“On a date. A romantic date. Me and you” stuttered Karolina in a nervous way

Nico ignored Karolina’s stuttering, she ignored her previous guilt because all she could see now was red. She felt pure rage go through her when she heard those words. It had become practically a game at school, a dare to try and ask out the scary goth girl. Just this year more then five people had tried it but she never thought that Karolina would do something like this to her. A logical part of her understood why she would do it. It must hard, especially for an affectionate person like Karolina to be alone and many people in this position would do everything to just belong somewhere, even if it was cruel. But somehow she never thought that Karolina would do it. Not her. It hurt more then she could say

“Very fucking funny Karolina. Get the hell of my sight” growled Nico as she stood up and glared at the blonde

She expected Karolina to be embarrassed, to be ashamed but she did not expect the utterly devastated expression on her face

“I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to offend you….I will stay away. I’m sorry” she practically choked the last words as tears ran down her face. Before Nico could respond Karolina practically sprinted away

Nico just stood there stunned. She had made Karolina cry. Her brain started putting pieces together. How Karolina always turned down even the most popular boys in school, how she had never talked about getting married and finding her prince when they were kids, her utter obsession with Xena…..oh god Karolina was a lesbian. And she had asked her out only to have Nico humiliate her. She felt like the worst person in the universe

She ran after Karolina. It took a while to reach her but finally the long legged girl had stopped and entered a bathroom. Nico quickly followed. It seemed to be empty except for the silent sobs coming from one of the stalls. The Goth girl felt an immense amount of guilt punching her in the heart as she sw the consequences of her anger aQuickly blocking the door so they would be alone she went in front of the stall

“Karolina” she asked gently causing the sobbing to stop for a minute

‘Could you please leave Nico?” answered Karolina weakly

“Karolina I am really sorry. I shouldn’t have said this. It’s not what you think. I thought you were making fun of me” Nico knew that she was explaining it horribly but she had no idea how to handle the situation. She just wanted Karolina to feel better

“What?’asked a confused Karolina

“It’s a dare people at school do. Go and ask out the scary goth girl for kicks” explained Nico while trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice

This finally caused Karolina to come out of the stall. She had tears in her eyes and something much worse. Sympathy

“I’m so sorry Nico. I had no idea “Nico felt like an even bigger jackass. Karolina was trying to make her feel better despite the fact that she just hurt her

“No I am sorry Karolina. I know that you would never do something like this but…I just lost it. I am sorry. I should have never treated you like this” Nico said sincerely and before she even knew what she was doing she hugged Karolina 

The girl melted into her, she had forgotten just how good human contact felt. The only person who had hugged her in the last two years was her father and even that was rare nowadays. They stood like this for a while now seeking comfort in each other. It was at this moment that Nico decided to do something impulsively

“If the offer is still on the table I would love to go out with you” said Nico softly

“You don’t have to” said Karolina as she pulled away and her face became sad again

“I don’t have to. I want to”

“You do?” and then at Nico’s nod Karolina transformed. Her sadness replaced with a megawatt smile that lit up the whole room ”Maybe tomorrow? At seven?”

“I would love that”

“Ok’ said Karolina practically beaming ”I’ll pick you up tomorrow then!”

This was followed by Karolina bumping into both the sink and the door as she seemed extremely excited to get out and start planning their date. Nico stared at her with adoration until she was out of the bathroom. It was so good to see her friend smiling again. The warm feeling lasted only a few seconds until her brain caught up with what she had done. Shit shit shit. She had just agreed to go out on a date with Karolina. She was about to have her first date! What the hell was she going to do?


End file.
